YouTube is 19 years old. Here’s a timeline of how it was founded and grew to become king of video, with some controversies along the way.

• YouTube was founded by three PayPal employees in 2005.
• Since launching, it’s become the most popular free video-sharing platform in the world.
• Take a look at the history of YouTube.

In its 19-year history, YouTube has become the undisputed king of online video.

It has well over 2 billion monthly users who watch hundreds of hundreds of millions of hours of content every single day. But many people don’t know how YouTube got its start.

The company rose like a rocket ship after its founding in 2005, and was bought by Google just 18 months later. Under Google, YouTube went from being a repository of amateur video to a powerhouse of original content, not to mention a launching pad for its own new brand of superstars, like MrBeast and the Smosh Brothers.

Here is how YouTube got its explosive start, and maintained that momentum to become the biggest force in online video.